Off to a bit of a lethargic start Sunday against Kansas City, the Cincinnati Bengals pulled out an old trick. And it worked almost as well as the first time.

Cedric Peerman ran 32 yards around left end on a fake punt from the Bengals’ 29-yard line midway through the opening quarter, setting up the first touchdown of the game on the way to a 28-6 rout of the Chiefs.

“It was just an opportunity for a play, and we made it work,” said Peerman, who also ran the same fake to the different side for a 48-yard gain back in Week 4 at Jacksonville.

“We practice that play a lot against a variety of looks,” special teams coach Darrin Simmons said. “We talked about it on the sideline, the look we were going to get it, and Coach (Marvin) Lewis gave us the green light to do it if it was there.”

The Bengals converted a fourth-and-7 play later in the drive on an 11-yard scramble by Andy Dalton, who eventually hit A.J. Green with a 4-yard touchdown pass to give the Bengals a 7-3 lead.

Peerman’s gains of 48 and 32 yards on the fakes are the Bengals’ two longest runs of the year.

Green’s grab

Green’s one-handed, acrobatic touchdown catch at the edge of the end zone marked his ninth consecutive game with a score, breaking the Bengals’ single-season record previously held by T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

“The crazy thing is that they rotated to my side real late and I was double-covered,” said Green, who finished with 6 catches for 91 yards. “Andy (Dalton) threw the ball where only I could make the play.”

“It was a great play, not only catching the ball but getting two feet in,” Dalton added. “At this point, it’s kind of what you expect of him. You expect him to make catches like that.”

Green owns the longest current TD streak in the NFL, and only Crazy Legs Hirsch (10 in a row in 1951) and Jerry Rice (12 in 1987) have longer touchdown reception streaks in NFL history.

Carl Pickens owns the Bengals’ record for most consecutive games with a touchdown over multiple seasons with 10 (final five games of 1994 and first five of 1995).

Sack stat

Defensive tackle Geno Atkins’ first-quarter sack of Matt Cassel was his eighth of the season, tying him with Dan “Big Daddy” Wilkinson for the Bengals single-season record among interior lineman.

Atkins actually had eight for one and a half weeks in 2011 before a scoring change took one away.

Odds and ends

The 28-6 victory against the Chiefs on the heels of the 31-13 triumph of the Giants marked the first time the Bengals have won back-to-back games by at least 18 points since 1985 when they defeated Houston 45-27 and Dallas 50-24… The Bengals had been 0-3 this year when the opponent scores first and 24-52 in Lewis’ tenure before rallying from an early 3-0 deficit Sunday … The Bengals were 3-of-3 on fourth down conversions against the Chiefs, making them 11-of-14 on the season… The Bengals held veteran Chiefs wide receiver Dwayne Bowe without a catch for the first time in 76 games. Bowe did not play in the second half after suffering a neck injury in the second quarter… Bengals cornerback Terence Newman left the game with a concussion and did not return.